Board Adopts Formulary Update; Stakeholder Asks Why Some Cancer Drugs Allowed, Others Not

The New York State Workers' Compensation Board has formally adopted updates to the drug formulary, the board announced last week. The updates were made on an emergency basis in November, just a month before the formulary took effect, and they added some drugs that do not need pre-authorization before prescribing, but restricted others. The changes, marked in red in the revised formulary chart, cover a range of medications and require pre-authorization for some drugs but not others. An analgesic lidocaine patch, for example, can be prescribed without authorization from the insurer or...